


Tales of Terror: An Oxventure Collection

by tnnyoh



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types, Oxventure
Genre: Gen, Horror, Pre-Canon, Prequel, Scary, Supernatural Elements, spookingtons
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-28 01:10:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19801615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tnnyoh/pseuds/tnnyoh
Summary: This is a flashback, prequel style collection of stories, each one telling a tale of the oxventurers before they met, and each story has it’s own horrors. I thought it would be kind of fun to do a scary story collection the same way that people write scary stories on various internet forums, so without further ado…





	Tales of Terror: An Oxventure Collection

Percy tapped on the edge of the table and watched the rain from where he sat, his father was across from him, sitting on another chair and reading by a dim lantern. It was day light, but the sky was overcast because of the storm.

He continued tapping on the table, _tap, tap, tap,_ almost in rhythm to the rain drops hitting the glass on the window.

His father put down his novel for a moment and looked at his son “Percival”

“Yes, father?”

“Please _cease_ the noise”

“I’m bored” Percy said, almost a whining tone to his voice. He wasn’t lying, he was bored, but he was also trying to irritate his father, something which became a sort of hobby for him on quiet afternoons like this, sort of like a game.

A game he had unfortunately become quite good at without even trying.

“Percival, you are thirteen years old, not a child. There is no need to start throwing tantrums. You have a room full of books, why do you not simply go to read?”

“Because I’ve _read it all_.” he replied “I’ve read all the books I have”

“Then read the books in my study”

“Eurgh” Percy said, leaning back into the chair and placing his feet on the table in front of him “Your study creeps me out, it’s too clean, but I was in there the other day and a book pushed off the shelf by itself”

His father let out an exasperated noise “I do remember you told me this, and everyone else who would listen, including three of the maids”

“Yeah well, one of those three told me someone _died_ in this manor. How come you never told me someone died here?”

“Because it’s not true, Percy. It’s simply an errant mind running away with their imagination, do not let that happen to you”

His father eyed his feet and Percy quickly sat up straight, removing his propped feet from the table “So you’re saying I’m not allowed to have an imagination?”

“That is not at all what I am saying, don’t be difficult”

Percy stood up from the chair and listlessly walked to the doorway, he loudly sighed and made quite a show of leaving the room. When he did, his father picked up the book, shook his head, and continued to read.

The afternoon storm started to grow worse, Percy had no idea what to do to cure his boredom, he was torn between checking out the novels in his fathers library, and just taking a nap. He opted for the nap and leaned over the desk to open his window and let some of the fresh air in, the ambient noise of the rain was also welcome as it made the room feel less painfully quiet.

He laid down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling and slowly closed his eyes.

That’s when he heard it, a thud, he thought it could have just been one of the help, maybe someone had dropped something. But then the thud sounded again, and it was closer this time. He kept his eyes shut tightly, hoping that whatever it was would go away. He heard his door opening and then shutting gently. He tried to convince himself it was the maid, coming in to check the room had been cleaned.

But they never closed the doors behind them.

He stayed perfectly still on the bed and felt something sit at the edge, the sound of the rain outside was drowned out by the sound of his heart thudding away in his ears. He felt like all of the air had been knocked out of him.

He only had one thought, and it was the stupidest thought, he was going to scream for his father, and then whatever was in his room was going to rip him limb from limb and take great joy in it.

“Father!” he shouted, keeping his eyes shut tightly, he felt the thing getting closer, the floorboards creeping ever so slightly.

“FATHER!” he shouted louder, his voice almost getting stuck in his throat entirely, and still he kept his eyes closed, he had no idea what that was accomplishing, it wasn’t as if the thing wouldn’t decide it was unable to murder him simply because he closed his eyes.

The door opened again, this time a voice came with it.

“Percival, what in the world is going on up here?” His father’s voice said, calm as ever, usually this annoyed Percy but this time he was glad to hear the leveled and calm tone. He finally opened his eyes, there was nothing there, the spot on his bed where he could have sworn he felt something sitting was as smooth as it had been before, never touched, never messed up.

“I…I heard something” he said, sitting up in bed “Like a thudding, and it kept getting closer and then I heard someone or something come into my room”

“It was very likely one of the staff” his father said, clearly losing patience with his young son.

“But father…” Percy started

“Percival, if you are so needy for entertainment, go tend to the horses”

“I don’t _want_ to” he whined

His father turned to leave the room, but turned back for just a moment “What did you just say?”

“I said I didn’t want to” Percy repeated

“Right, right. Of course.” His father walked off down the hall without another word, leaving his son confused, and a little scared, in his over-sized bed.

**************


End file.
